Plagiarism and Cheating

Definitions

Most people understand what cheating is.  There are probably hundreds of different ways that students cheat on assignments and tests.  It is important that you avoid even the appearance of cheating while taking exams in class.  Some behaviors that look suspicious to instructors are:

• sitting sideways in your seat

• wearing a baseball cap

• glancing in the direction of another student's test

• sitting in a seat different from where you usually sit, e.g. sitting at the back of the room for exams, but sitting in front during lecture

• looking at or playing with cell phones

• using electronic translation dictionaries

• getting up to "go to the bathroom" during an exam

Plagiarism is a bit more difficult to define at times, and many students plagiarize without even realizing they are doing it.  Some things to remember:

• Whenever you use another person's words, or paraphrase their thoughts, you need to give them credit.  This means cite them in the body of your paper and in the reference section.

• If you use more than two words in a row from another author's source, you are quoting them.  Use the appropriate punctuation and cite them.

• If you use a paper that you have written for another course, this is considered a form of plagiarism.  If you want to do this, check with your instructor.

Some things that indicate to your instructor that you may have plagiarized:

• Your writing style suddenly improves.  This might be in comparison to earlier work in the class, or the more obvious is when your opening paragraph is poorly written, and then the subsequent paragraphs are very well written.

• Your writing ability differs greatly from your speaking ability.  If you have difficulty expressing yourself in class, but you have flawlessly written papers, this raises questions for your instructor.

• Your paper rings a familiar bell.  This usually means the instructor has read it somewhere before.

What will be done?

• If I suspect that you have plagiarized a paper, I will not assign a grade, and I will make a note on the paper asking that you speak with me.  

• If I have hard evidence that you have plagiarized, i.e. the original source, you will not receive credit for the assignment.

• If you are caught cheating on an exam, your exam will be taken and you will receive no credit for the exam.  

• Documentation will be provided to the Vice President of Student Affairs.  If deemed appropriate disciplinary action will be taken which may include suspension from the college.